The Role of Sustainability in SMEs - A Guideline for SMEs to Activate Environmental Commitment amongst Employees by Means of Small and Medium Sized Dutch and German IT-Consulting Firms

Bremer, Laura
(2015)
The Role of Sustainability in SMEs - A Guideline for SMEs to Activate Environmental Commitment amongst Employees by Means of Small and Medium Sized Dutch and German IT-Consulting Firms.

The consciousness about the environment plays an increasingly important role for companies nowadays. Also SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) need to rethink their business concept and can use the benefits of a more environmental friendly marketing strategy by considering Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. But here the question arises, how an SME, often missing important resources like money, can develop an efficient strategy in order to be more sustainable. By investigating parts of the concept of the Triple Bottom Line, it has been found out that the answer lies in the resources, an SME already incorporates: its employees. This research paper aims to show which practices an SME can use to develop Environmental Commitment on the level of internal stakeholders, hence employees. Therefore Dutch and German SMEs of the IT-Consulting industry have been investigated in terms of their applied practices to become or to stay sustainable and finally to activate Environmental Commitment within the firm. This can lead to better performing employees and to a better reputation of the whole firm, which will finally lead to better firm performance. This paper helps SMEs to rethink their marketing strategy and their position vis-a-vis the environment. The practices most often used by the investigated firms of the two countries, can in combination be used by SMEs as a broad guide line to rethink the already existing environmental friendly marketing strategy or to start thinking sustainable in terms of the internal stakeholders.